


The Real Reason

by LittleSweetCheeks



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Friendship, Gen, past relationship, post 4.1, post episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-26 15:17:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13238472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: Six hours in an SUV with his boss sounds much better than an hour and a half in a jet with one very pissed off Baby Girl. Not that he's going to admit that.





	The Real Reason

Morgan had just guided the silent SUV through the outer limits of the city. He suspected, hoped, Hotch had already dozed off in the passenger seat and while Morgan preferred to have some music on while he drove, he’d caught Hotch’s pained grimace when the radio had kicked on when he’d started the SUV and didn’t want to cause the man anymore pain.

“I know why you’re really driving me.” Hotch’s voice, thick with almost-sleep, spoke.

“What?” Morgan asked, a little too loud and instantly felt bad when he saw the other man flinch in pain. “Sorry. What?” He tried again, softer.

Hotch still hadn’t opened his eyes. “I asked you on the sidewalk about why you wanted to drive me back to Quantico and you joked about having nothing better to do that irritate me for three hours. Except, despite all our moments, you never irritate me. Even when we disagree, I appreciate your views and that you aren’t afraid to express them to me.” He went silent for a bit and Morgan wondered if he’d finally dozed off. “You only joke like that when you’re being elusive.”

Morgan’s brows rose. “Is that so.”

Hotch smirked but didn’t say anything.

Finally, Morgan had to ask. “Fine. If that’s true, then why did I want to drive you all the way home?”

The smirk spread into a grin. “You’re afraid of Garcia.”

The younger man drove on for two miles before responding. “What makes you think that?”

Hotch finally rolled his head to the side and cracked one eye open at him. “You’re kidding, right?” He chuckled once and then winced as it caused pain shoot through his head.

“You okay?” Morgan was willing to change the subject to…anything

“I’m fine.”

“Hotch. When was the last time you took something for the pain?” Whatever Hotch answered, he didn’t catch. “What?”

“I didn’t bother getting the scripts filled.”

He sighed dramatically. “Why not?”

“I’m fine, Morgan.” He’d just finished his sentence when a big rig in the next lane blew on it’s horn, making him grab his head.

Morgan sighed and when the lanes cleared, changed and merged off, pointing the SUV toward the first pharmacy he could find. “Man, you have to take care of yourself.” When that didn’t elicit a response, he tried again. “What’s going to happen if you’re in this much pain and Jack acts like a normal little boy? How’s he going to handle seeing you reacting like that?” He didn’t get a verbal response, but he did get a glare from his boss and figured the message had gotten through enough to make him not fight when they stopped.

Aaron wasn’t pleased while they waited for him prescriptions, because Morgan had found the others in his bag as well, filled. He sat by the pharmacy and sulked while his second wandered the small store and collected a bottle of water and an energy drink as well as a couple snacks before returning to the counter and speaking with the pharmacist. After a moment, Morgan wandered off again only to return with a few more things.

When the scripts were ready, Aaron stood to pay for it only to find that by the time he got there, the other man was already handing him the bag of everything.

“All taken care of.”

“I can pay for my own medicine, Morgan.” Aaron tried to admonish.

“I know.” He walked off before Aaron could say any more.

Mildly annoyed, he followed Morgan out to the SUV and got back in his seat before digging through the bag. Besides the medicine and food items were a pack of wax earplugs, those were rather self-explanatory, several packets of air-activated hand warmers, Aaron was familiar enough with them, and Dramamine, at that he raised a brow to Morgan and shook the box slightly.

Derek glanced across the vehicle. “I asked the pharmacist what else would help you, especially for the rest of the drive. He said some warm, dry heat against your ear might help with some of the pain and the little warmers I figured were about as good as we could do on the road.” He gestured at the plugs. “He said those would help muffle the sound, you’re in pain, Hotch, no sense in suffering more. And the pills are in case you get to feeling dizzy. He suggested it as well.” He reached across and patted his boss’s arm. “Pick whichever drink you want and take the medicine, Man. The antibiotic needs to be taken with food.”

Aaron frowned but started to pour pills out. “I would have been fine without all this fuss, you know.”

“Yeah, I know you woulda convinced yourself you’re fine. But you’re not, and that’s okay.”

“These make me drowsy. I don’t like it.”

“Hotch.” He waited for the older man to look up. “Take the pills or I pull out my phone and we discuss who’s really afraid of Miss Penelope.” He chuckled as Hotch popped the pills in his mouth and drank the energy drink. He might be a tad afraid to be on the bubbly blonde’s bad side, but he wasn’t alone in it.

==

The drive through Philadelphia had taken longer than usual due to road construction. Morgan wasn’t a fan of sitting stuck in traffic but having grown up in Chicago and then lived for so long around D.C., he was, sadly, used to it. The only thing keeping him from vocalizing his frustration was that the soft snoring from the passenger seat for the past hour letting him know that the drugs were finally doing their job and Hotch was getting some rest. Morgan really doubted the older man had been getting much lately anyway and their last case… Well, none of them had slept well in New York.

Giving up on traffic for the moment, Morgan turned off the interstate and found a fast food drive-thru for some lunch. ‘Vibing it’, as JJ teasingly called it, he found a small park two blocks away and parked the SUV before climbing out and sitting at a picnic table to eat. He’d just wadded up the bag, ready to throw it away, when the long, suited form of Aaron took a seat beside him. “Sleep good?”

“Yeah.” He was squinting at the pond not far away. “Where are we?”

“Philly. Construction has the roads all backed up, so I figured it was time for a break. There’s quite a few places to get a bite if you’re hungry.”

“I’m fine.” He responded automatically before seeing Morgan give him a look. “Food sounds good though. How are we doing for time?”

“We have plenty of time. What’re you in the mood for?”

Aaron thought a moment. “Did anywhere have Chinese?”

Morgan grinned. “Yeah, think so. We’ll find something.” He stood and put his things in a trashcan. Turning back to his boss, he studied him a moment. “Hey… How are you holding up?” In all honesty, Derek knew the past year, and maybe more than that, had been rough on the older man. He could still remember vividly almost a year ago the look on Hotch’s face in the dim jet cabin as he, in a rare moment of vulnerability, admitted that Haley had left him.

“I’m okay.” Hotch answered before looking up and seeing the open worry on Derek’s face. He could tell from the look that the other man wasn’t asking about his recent injuries. He sighed, wishing he was somewhere that gave him a bit more authority, safety, than a flaking picnic table in a park. “Okay, I guess. Haley had agreed to give me Jack this past weekend.” He peered up and caught the look of sadness that crossed Morgan’s face. “Every time I miss a weekend… Haley asked me the other day if I even wanted to really be a father.”

“Man…” Aborting his intended path to the vehicle, he returned and sat facing out, shoulder to shoulder with him. “That’s… I’m sorry. I know how much it eats away at you to be away from him. Have you told her you got hurt?”

“No.”

“Were you planning on it?”

He shook his head. “No.”

Morgan thought about what he knew of his friend as he chewed his lip. “You always tried to protect her from what happened on the job, didn’t you?”

“I tried.”

“Well… I’ll find us some Chinese, how about you give her a call and just tell her what’s going on.” He stood and started back to the SUV.

“She won’t care.”

At the despondent sound to his voice, he glanced back. “C’mon, Hotch. Let’s get some lunch.”

==

Derek did his best not to eavesdrop, but Hotch had the phone up to his good ear as well as the volume turned up.

“Hey, Haley, it’s me.”

_“Where are you?”_

“Philly, we’re just stopping for a bite to eat. We’ll be back in a few hours.”

_“We? I thought you went to New York?”_

“I got hurt… A bomb went off in an SUV I was about to get in and… Morgan is driving me back. I’m not cleared to fly for a while.”

There was a gasp through the phone. “ _Aaron! A bomb? What the hell?”_

“An agent from the New York office died, but I’m okay. I got tossed around a bit and banged up. One of my eardrums ruptured and I have some hearing loss and stuff, but it’s only temporary.” He could feel Morgan staring at him but didn’t look up. “It’s really no big deal. The doctor didn’t want me flying so soon after the injury incase it caused some pain.”

_“But… You’re okay?”_

“Yeah. I’m fine, Haley.”

Her voice was softer now. _“And you’ll be back later today?”_

“We hit some traffic here, but it shouldn’t be too late.”

_“Okay. Well, tell Morgan to drive safe. Call me when you get home.”_

“I will.” He ended the call and stared at the phone a minute before finally looking up. “Happy?”

“Not really, you lied to her. But… I guess it’s better than nothing.” He pulled into a parking lot. “Doesn’t look too busy.”

==

An hour down the road, Morgan’s GPS warned them of another delay, so he turned them south instead of attempting to get through Baltimore. Hotch was wide awake now, though quiet in the passenger seat. Tired of the silence, Morgan attempted to start a conversation. “How are you comfortable riding all this way in a suit?”

“Hmm?”

He chuckled. “Most of six hours in a car, and you pick a suit. Not really the way to relax and enjoy the ride.”

“I thought a junior agent from the motor pool was going to drive me.”

“And you planned on intimidating her into leaving you alone.”

Aaron sighed somewhat dramatically. “That was the plan.”

“Well, I’m not sorry because I know you wouldn’t have eaten and wouldn’t have gotten your meds. You would’ve just ridden in miserable pain the whole time.”

“I would have been fine.”

“No. You would have been irritable and had her in a nervous mess the whole way.”

He frowned. “I would not.”

Morgan’s brows rose. “I don’t believe for a minute that you aren’t aware of how you come across to other people.”

“I have no idea what you mean.”

He shook his head. “You might not want to admit it, but you like when people submit to you.” He drummed his fingers on the wheel. “I’ll get into trouble for this, but you wanna know a secret?”

Aaron wasn’t sure he did. “Shoot.”

“Sometimes we make a game of it, place bets on how long it will take you to get a certain LEO to back down or something. Or on a bad case, how many locals you can bring almost to tears.”

Aaron gaped at him. “You guys bet on me?”

“Well… It started as Rossi’s idea, but I think he meant it as a joke. I think when he’s about to lose, he prods you and gets you to react to little things that you were letting slide.”

Aaron thought back to cases since Dave had been back. “I’ll be damned…”

“Yeah.”

“Now I have to think how to get back at him.”

Morgan chuckled. It hadn’t taken long for the rest of them to realize that the older Italian tended to bring out the more boyish parts of their boss’s personality. Sure, there had been times, when away from work, they’d seen Hotch kick back and really kid around, but the rest of the time he was so official and formal. And his sense of humor tended to be so dry that, on occasion, even the team missed it.

Aaron debated a few minutes before coming to a decision. Slowly, he began to loosen the knot on his tie, eventually pulling it out of his collar altogether before undoing the top button. He did feel a bit more relaxed now. Shifting in his seat, he found a slightly more relaxed position and tried to stretch out his legs. “For all their size, these aren’t really meant for riding in for any length of time.” He grumbled.

“No, they’re not.” Morgan looked over at him. “So, am I taking you to the base first to switch to your car or just dropping you home?”

“Uhh.” Hotch thought a minute. “Well, I’m not supposed to be driving for a bit so… Home I guess. I’ll figure out a way in to the office tomorrow.”

“Are you supposed to be in tomorrow.”

Aaron debated lying to him, it wasn’t like Morgan would be able to find out.

“I’ll be asking Garcia to confirm.”

“No. I’m supposed to take a few days off.”

Derek chuckled and shook his head. “I’ll hold down the fort while you’re out.”

“Thanks.”

The conversation lagged as they drove the final stretch and Morgan started to turn toward Alexandria.

“Oh, I’m in Dumfries now. Haley got the house.”

“Okay.” He took the exit anyway.

“So, why are we turning off?”

“To see Jack.”

“But…” He was confused. “Haley didn’t say I could see him.”

“Relax, Hotch.” Morgan kept driving until he pulled up out front of the house. “Sit tight.” He climbed out and jogged up to the door. He hoped Haley wasn’t going to fight him too much.

“Agent Morgan.” The petite blonde greeted in surprise when she came to the door. “I… Is Aaron with you?”

“Yeah, he’s in the car.” Derek stepped to the side so she could see where her ex-husband was sitting in the passenger seat with his head back. “Look, I know you two have your arrangement, but he’s not supposed to drive for a while and he’ll be out of work about as long. He’s banged up and hurting but after everything he’s been through, I think spending a little time with Jack would help.”

“Oh, you do now.”

Morgan had spent his life honing the skills he needed to win women over. His mother and sisters first and then women he worked with. Offering Haley his most sincere smile, he tried to appeal to her instincts as a mother. “Look, I get it, okay. The job sucks. I don’t blame you for finding your limit. My Pops was a cop and his schedule was sometimes unpredictable and he’d come home banged up. I was just a kid when someone shot and killed him, right in front of me. It was always easier to be able to see him hurt but know he was alive and would get better than to wonder if I would see him again.” He waited, he could see her crumbling.

“Is he really going to be up for chasing Jack around?”

“I was planning on staying with him for now. I’ll have to go pick up Clooney first, Jack’s not allergic to dogs is he?”

“No, dogs are fine.” Haley glanced back into the house. “I’ll get him a bag and his seat. Give me a minute?”

“Sure. I’ll be in the car, just let me know if you need help.”

==

Aaron wasn’t sure why they were just waiting outside Haley’s house, Morgan wasn’t willing to give him any clues, but fifteen minutes later, he watched his ex-wife approach them, Jack and a bag in one arm and his son’s carseat in the other. He rolled down the window. “Haley?”

She didn’t speak right away but instead opened Aaron’s door and placed the boy in his father’s lap. “Agent Morgan said he was staying with you while you recovered and since you missed your days with him for the case, it makes sense that you take advantage of the time off to make it up.” Haley worked to install the seat. “And Jack will love hanging out with Clooney, but if he starts begging for a dog, you’re going to be the one getting it.”

Aaron just nodded and stayed silent until his son was secured in the back and the blonde woman was pushing his door shut. “Haley. Thank you.”

“Call me if you need anything, Aaron.” She patted his arm. “Get better, okay?”

“Yeah.” He wasn’t sure how Morgan had swung it, but not only had Haley allowed him to have his son out of schedule and on short notice, but she was reasonably polite about it as well. And she looked almost concerned about him. Once they got to Dumfries, Aaron gave Morgan directions to his now apartment. As they were climbing out, he watched the younger man collecting all their bags. “I don’t have a spare room.”

Morgan shrugged. “No problem. I didn’t think to ask, will bringing Clooney over be a problem?”

He carefully shook his head as he led the pair in. “No, he’ll be fine.” Dropping his keys in the dish by the door, Aaron flipped on lights. “I’m not sure what I have for dinner.”

“I’ll pick up something on my way back. You and Jack just hang out, I shouldn’t be more than an hour.”

“Sounds good.”

Morgan was almost back out the door when his phone rang.

Aaron watched as the younger man’s eyes widened slightly. “Who is it?”

He licked his lips. “Garcia.”

With a smirk, he asked. “I thought you weren’t afraid of her?”

“Yeah well… Maybe I lied.”

  



End file.
